First Look: Fooch
Brainiac Society member Fooch AKA Nick Stylz was recently introduced to the world at large via Kidz In The Hall's sophomore LP, The In Crowd. Fooch has since seen his spotlight grow, gaining placements and shouts on various blogs, and music sites. My fellow Hyde Park resident, and Ray Elementary Alum (Go Warriors!) recently hit RH with his latest joint, "Questions" (listen below), as well as a bit more insight into the man "with shine on track 9."
The Basics: Without getting into the whole life story thing, I'm just a kid that grew up on the south side streets of the CHI. I was raised by my hood, a church going grandma and the True elements of Hip-Hop. The product is the man that your speaking with today...
Hailing From: Hyde Park, South Side of Chicago
Rapping since: I been rapping since like 1994. I was about eleven or twelve when I started. Me and my guy DJ Chase use to have these notebook rap battles in advanced math sophomore year in high school. S**t was hilarious!
Influences: Man where do I start? ATCQ, De La soul, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Gang Starr, Ice Cube, AZ, Nas, BIG, Pac, J- Dilla, Slum Village, Little Brother just to name a few. I listen to some of everything though so the list goes on and on.
Three Things To Know About Fooch: I'm one of the coolest most laid back dudes you'll ever meet. I love myself, my people, and my city. I love Hip- Hop and making good music.
Fooch Vs. Nick Stylz: Fooch and Nick Stylz are one in the same, but Fooch is the epitome of what it means to be a b-boy. Where as Nick Stylz is the more street savvy, fresh to death, slick talker. Foochie is what I initially went by, but Naledge cut the 'ie' off when we formed our crew FFC ( Fresh from Chicago). NIck Stylz is a name I jacked off of a Denzel Washington movie Ricochet. I loved the movie and I thought the name was dope. Plus it gave a little added swagger to my mic persona, but please believe I Don't Lie On Records.
Braniac Society: Basically, Brainiac Society is an exclusive upscale lifestyle brand & members-only leisure club, created solely for the international 'in crowd' of tastemakers, jet setters and industry elite.
Seeing Music in-stores and Online: Truthfully it's like a sigh of relief, like damn I finally get a chance to be heard. Also to be on a track with my boy Naledge, Black Milk and Guilty Simpson as my intro to the world on a national release was pretty crazy!
The Future of Fooch: Be checking for that Braniac Society mixtape. Also, I might be trying to put out an EP entitled Double Edge Sword. I also will be appearing with Naladge at the Chicago date for the Rock the Bells concert on July 19th, so keep your eyes and ears open!
Fat Ray and Black Milk "The Set Up"
Like a wiley relief pitcher, Fat Ray and Black Milk make it a 1,2,3 inning on The Set Up, a lean 11 tracks of Detroit flavored Hip Hop. The LP show and proves on an aesthetic made famous by J Dilla, and extends the torch once carried by the likes of Jay Dee, and Slum Village and now being handled by Fat Ray, Black Milk, Guilty Simpson and co...Just as the best pitchers stick to their arsenal, Black Milk and Fat Ray successfully do their thing, however, a couple pitches outside the strike zone now and then would add variety and diversity to the record.
The Set Up maintains a minimalist philosophy where less is more, and more is definitely enough. The album's first joint, "Flawless" makes good use of a slapping beats, guitar grooves and pianos that match perfectly with Ray and Milk's lyrics. The tone and vibe reached on "Flawless" represents the best of the LP, something that is matched again on standouts such as "Bad Man" featuring Guilty Simpson and Scorpion, "Not U", and "When It Goes Down."
Darker joints like "Lookout" featuring Name Tag, which utilizes a Middle Eastern flute sample, "Get Down" and "Take Control" featuring AB add some variety to the album, but they too closely resemble each other, which turns the album almost into an "either-or" listening adventure. The tracks also house gritty rhymes rooted in the daily grind.
It is on "Take Control" that Fat Ray raps, "Might as well face the facts we spit the crack, even Jay-Z had to Fade To Black...Milk that is, till we filthy rich, better make room like 50's crib."
The Set Up is an almost filler-free album that is ready built for car rides and smoke sessions. Unlike the title of the first track, the full LP is not without it's drawbacks. Fat Ray and Black Milk carefully toe the line between musically and lyrically cohesive vs. being repetitive. It seems like Black Milk and Fat Ray have found their zone, where they have comfortably Set Up shop. It's a good zone to be in, but I believe that the listener as well as the artist could have benefited from more risks on this project. There's no doubt that Dilla heads will eat this up, but the album is perhaps too deeply rooted in that sound, making it easy for fans and critics to overlook Fat Ray and Black Milk's uniqueness.
These are definitely two artists with bright futures ahead of them, and hopefully this is The Setup of more to come.
Hits:
"When It Goes Down"
"Ugly"
"Get Focus"
"Flawless"
"Not U"
Misses:
"Lookout"
"Get Down"
Sheek Louch
It's a good time to be Sheek Louch. The release of his latest album, Silverback Gorilla, has brought with it the praise of critics, a top ten single in "Good Love", and a clearer presence for Sheek. No longer just ˜the third member of the LOX" Sheek is looking forward to capitalizing on the success that follows 12 years in the industry.
Sheek's veteran status, yet relatively young age put him in an interesting spot in Hip Hop. Like Kobe Bryant, or Kevin Garnett, Sheek's career took of when he, Styles P., and Jadakiss were still teenagers with raw talent, but not much in terms of industry know-how. In this Ruby Hornet exclusive interview, Sheek breaks down his career's progression, talks about the responsibilities that come with his veteran status, and explains why Silverback Gorilla took so many by surprise...
RubyHornet: How have you been since the album came out?
Sheek Louch: From before the album came out and after, I'm great, man. I'm feeling ecstatic right now. I'm on a whole other level with the way things are going right now.
RubyHornet: I got a lot of that when listening to your album...I think there are a lot of themes running through, and one that maintained throughout was the theme of maturity and growth, and fit with the title Silverback Gorilla. With this album being out now, and you being a veteran, being older, can you think back to how it felt when you dropped the first LOX album?
Sheek Louch: Of course, man. I can give you the whole growth process. I don't know how far back you want to go, but us even coming from the streets to us getting with Puff and being intimidated by that point alone. We were just young boys, 17, 18, whatever. Imagine being there and walking passed B.I.G. and all of them. Walking passed Craig Mack, Total, all these people, I'm like 'wow.' Puff made them larger than life. We were like, 'we got to deliver once we get up in here.' During that time things were more dictated to us. It was more like, 'alright, this is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to say it. We're going to go over here, they're going to teach us about this. This is what's rocking in Texas, this is what's playing out here. Study these albums.' It was more like school. But we had the big homie always, which is B.I.G. that was keeping us on some other s**t. We were regular street [dudes], even though Diddy tried to have us a whole other way, B.I.G. was like, 'nah, they're going to do this.'
Leaving that situation for whatever reasons, now we went from students to now we're tight and can say whatever we want cause we're back with our old manager who started Ruff Ryders. We could talk and our whole s**t was basically getting at Puff, the whole album We Are The Streets. We were young boys not knowing the business, but we were tight. On that [album] I got to say a little bit more of what I wanted, and after that situation it's our fall back..Kiss and Styles, you're hearing them, whatever, whatever. Me, I'm like, 'ahhh, I'll do the Lox.' That's when I started thinking, 'let me see what's popping out here [business wise]. 'I was trying the business thing. And I still do, I still take my meetings..As far as growth from that time, I'm a monster. I'm becoming more of a monster by learning. Not to sound generic, but I knew that I had a lot to learn and a long way to go. Lyrically, now we're talking lyrically, people were saying 'damn, he's stepped up. Let me see what's popping. I ain't heard Sheek like that. You ain't just the third member of the LOX, you got to do some things, get some album deals going.'
Now by the time I do that album Walk With Me, I still had something to prove. By the second album I feel like my presence is getting stronger, especially when I get to the station and I call in and it's 'where's Sheek, where's Sheek at' up at the station. With this album, from my last one After Taxes, it's been a year and a half wait, two years almost. Any man, anybody's going to grow and see different things in their lives and figure out how they want to come with it. I just said, 'I need some hot tracks. I need some hot features that's going to go left, that are not expected.' I don't want them to say, 'ahh, I knew this was going to be this.' A lot of people, I've done a lot of interviews and it's not insulting, but they say, 'Sheek, you surprised the s**t out of me, man.' They are really telling me that with a straight face. They say, 'I don't mean any disrespect. I knew it was going to be hot, but you shocked me.' A lot of them. I've done interviews for the internet, satellite, live on the radio with the top Deejays, whoever. They're all like, 'dawg, I did not expect you to come on this track like that, I didn't expect you to ask him to get on it.'
RubyHornet: I don't want to insult you either, but some of the songs I just didn't expect for you to open up as much as you did. I think that could be what people are shocked by in a sense.
Sheek Louch: Definitely, definitely, 100%. That was strictly me just saying, 'it's bigger than just to talk about the same s**t.' Look at my first single, fam, "Good Love." It's a top ten record right now. It's number 8 or 9 on 106. It's on f**king Z100 and those kind of stations, and f**king number 3 on MTV, all kind of s**t! I'm like, 'wow, this is a song I wasn't afraid to go into.' I figure, dawg, I talked about the guns, the crack, I still do and have talked about that so much I thought, 'let me try this.' Red Spider was like, 'Sheek, you need to do this record. This is it, this is it.' He told me to let it breathe, let what Betty Wright is saying breathe and not to go over the sample part. He gave me a formula, which was dope. A lot of producers just give you the track and they'll get up with you later to get the check and mix it down. He was literally like, 'we got to do this dadada,' and 'keep that swagger. Talk to the chicks.' It's a big record. I have a feeling that "Good Love" is going to rock till it's warm outside.
RubyHornet: It's going to be warm soon I hope.
Sheek Louch: And when they're ready for something else, I'm going to come with the remix.
RubyHornet: Do you have that planned out, and who's going to be on it?
Sheek Louch: Yeah. Someone already laid [their verse], but I just want to lock it all the way in before I even talk about it.
RubyHornet: I respect that. Something you touched on in your answer are some of themes you bring up in "Don't Be Them," which is a really good track-
Sheek Louch: It's my favorite of all the songs I made.
RubyHornet: In terms of your growth you were just talking about, going from just being the 3rd member of the LOX to really carving out your own identity. Were there times when you struggled with that for real?
Sheek Louch: Hell yeah. Like I said, as far as being the 3rd member of the LOX, now it's like, 'it's Sheek Louch, he's hot. When can we get Sheek to the station? When can we get this interview with him?' Not, 'I need Styles, Sheek, and Jadakiss, can they all come in?' Now it's like, 'Sheek, can we get you to do Summer Jam for us? Can we get you a ten minute segment? We got a big show for the station.' And I love it! I feel like I've been working and I've been grinding. Wow. That's what it is, I'm standing as a man. They respect my work that I'm bringing forth. Especially a song like Don't Be Them' that had a lot to do with people asking me, 'can you advise a new artist about how to get on?' The wrong answer is 'yo, just keep it real, son. Just be real.' That ain't the answer. I'm not saying who's giving that answer, but that's not it. Don't be them. If my son said 'I want to be a rapper. I want to be Nas.' I would say, 'you want to be the guy they're signed to. 'I don't know, that's how I was feeling.
Especially when I have those quotes in there about the rapper's everyday and what he's going through. It's not that he didn't want to do an autograph, or he didn't want to take the interview. Maybe he was f**king at home with the flu. His throat could be killing him, but it comes across a different way so now people are like, 'f**k him. He didn't call me back.'
RubyHornet: It seems like you're really embracing your role as a professional within Hip Hop and as a veteran. What do you see as the responsibilities for artists like yourself in terms of ensuring that the quality of Hip Hop maintains going forward? You won't be rapping 20 or 30 years from now, but other people will be.
Sheek Louch: With that, my responsibility is, as hot as I am and as lyrical as I am-and I kind of know the game, but it switches so much that I kind of don't-I would think the responsibility would be to bring new groups to the table that have values and morals such as yourself. You see what I'm saying? Don't just go grab muthafuckas that don't give a f**k. Bring people to the table that really care about it. You can't tell all the time. Some are flukes, some are one hit wonders, but still have judgment about who you bring to the table, and who you let in this Hip Hop circle. You dig what I'm saying? Pass some kind of judgment about who you let in. Also, a lot of young boys never knew who Betty Wright was. They do now just cause I did that song, I introduced it. She had no problem clearing it, cause it was so good.
RubyHornet: I understand. I talked to Common when he put out "Corners" with the Last Poets. He was saying kind of the same thing, how he enjoys turning younger people on to artists he was listening to before, and hopefully passing inspiration on. I think that's the key to music, inspiring people and passing that through.
Sheek Louch: Yeah. I respect that. I didn't know he said that. I respect that, no doubt.
RubyHornet: Those are some of the things you're also talking about in "Mic Check."
Sheek Louch: Who's the next Jam Master Jay? Is it Felli Fel? Is Hova the next Melle Mel? Hahaha...
RubyHornet: In that song you're talking about your audience and doing what feels good vs. trying to reach different markets. For you being in a weird position, as you say on the song, you're not young but you're not old, who do you see as your target audience? And when you were making this album, were you conscious of trying new things vs. balancing your old core fan base?
Sheek Louch: Yeah. You got to walk that rope. How do you fit in? You know what it is with us? I still feed the streets. I'm still out there with the youth. I pay attention to every little thing that they do. I see the Soulja Boys, the Uncle Murdas, all that. I'm paying attention to every little thing. I'm combining that. I've never turning into none of these dudes, but I'm watching, I'm seeing like, 'ok, this is what they're feeling out here.' I need to touch a little of that, but still bring that Sheek Louch, that LOX, D-Block flavor to the scene. Me feeding the streets with these mixtapes, and freestyles, and three songs here, jumping on a track with an upcoming artist, I'll jump on it with whoever the new artist is, but I'm f**king murdering him on his song. It'll be s**t like that. I pop up at the 106's, and just stay relevant. 10 years, 12 years later I'm still relevant and still f**king popping right now.
RubyHornet: Maybe at the height of your career right now.
Sheek Louch: Yeah I know. Me personally, yeah, no doubt. I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm grinding. I'm here and I'm done with beefing and all that. I'll take it if it comes though, or whatever. That D-Block/Dipset joint I got, I'm like, 'let's show some unity where we're at.' If I got to be the first person to take that stab and be like, 'you're a hot group over there, we're a hot group over here, let's do a song together.'
RubyHornet: What you were just saying leads me into what I was going to ask you about next, which is the song "Spray Crowds," You say, 'I'm not trying to make a record where my momma's not proud,' but it's like you're acknowledging that in life sometimes you have to do stuff that might not make your mom proud in a sense. Can you talk about that song, and how you balance that stuff?
Sheek Louch: It's so funny, my mom called me the other day and said, 'you're not trying to make a record where your momma's not proud, but all that cussing you're doing, that don't mean nothing...' I said, 'nah mom, that's the whole concept of what I was trying to say on that track. I know you're not going to get it.' And she's like, 'your son and everyone's listening.' Well you know what? Junior shouldn't be listening to this song right here. I understand that whether we like it or not we're role models. People look up to us, but at the same time... My son said to me, 'dad you said kiss you're a** goodbye on a song.' I told him, 'I made a mistake, it won't happen again.' But that's not for my son, he don't need to do that. The young boys that are listening, don't do everything I say. I'm making good music. When Denzel makes a Training Day and kills a room, he's not literally going home shooting everybody up. Al Pacino and all them, they're not going home to their families and grabbing an AK and killing. It's entertainment. But we do have a role definitely to lead them to the right path.
RubyHornet: I understand. I think some people when they get in those discussions they're saying the because Robert DeNiro plays all kinds of different characters and Hip Hop is definitely different from movies in the sense that it's much more real life to people. People live it and it's hard to see the line between life and just entertainment. A lot of rappers are always talking about 'this is what I really do. This is how I really am all the time.'
Sheek Louch: Yup, yup, definitely. After the guy says cut, that's cut for these actors. You're right, some of these muthafuckas just came from jail. They're going through some bulls**t.
RubyHornet: The album starts with a skit about what you would do if you won the lottery. Can you talk about why you added that skit, and do you feel like you are in a sense winning the lottery with your best success coming now, and success being the best kind of revenge?
Sheek Louch: Hahaha, nah...You know that skit was just me sitting around talking for real, for real. Right before we went in the both and did it, n****s really asked me, that was some real s**t. It was the Megabonus or something that's going around right now. It was real high, you know the mega millions? I played that s**t earlier that day, so I'm like 'if I hit this s**t' And I said the same exact s**t. First I talked about buying everybody sneakers, I was joking. Then I talked about my family, and I said I'm going to take care of my enemies. Everybody was like, 'oooohhhh.' I didn't even know I said it at first. Then I thought, 'let me go in this booth and say it again. That's what happened. As far as me feeling that I'm winning, winning, I'm feeling good, fam. I'm doing good and people are like, 'wow, Sheek is hot. He's that dude right now.' Come on dawg, I've been grinding. Not struggling cause we're still mainstream dudes and we make anthems for the street. Right now I'm number one on all these countdowns on stations, and number two...It feels great. The grind we had, and I keep saying we because in one of my verses I say, 'you ain't never wrote hits and ain't rich, you know, the life of the LOX.' We got houses, cars, all that life s**t, whatever. But I've seen dudes come in the game for a year or two and make zillions. Whether they’re still here and relevant now, I don't know. But they made zillions. Once we get to that status of making that mega, mega, mega money, I know it's for real paying off. I love that my fans appreciate me a lot more now, and I just want to touch on more s**t. We can take it to another level.
RubyHornet: In terms of going forward, as you said in the interview, you're at a different status. Also since the last LOX album, Styles P has put out a lot of great material, and you always have Jadakiss. Will this change the dynamic between the three of you? Are you looking forward to putting out that LOX album because now all three of you have established each other as a group and as solo artists.
Sheek Louch: Right, right, right..nah cause we're brothers till the end, till the death. Last night we were all there bugging off of one beat. There's a lot of groups that don't see each other and only their managers talk to each other. That ain't us. We own studios together, we own businesses together. Kiss will call me like, 'what do you think about this?' and I'll listen to it over the phone and s**t. And I'll come in and say something right here while he's there working. I'm there during his project. He's there talking s**t during mine. We feel each other out. We were zoning-zoning last night over a track. And we didn't get to writing, but we got it up, we got to lighting blunts, we're bugging throwing a little bulls**t in the air, it's like that with us. I doubt it's like that with a lot of other groups.
RubyHornet: Any word on when that might come out?
Sheek Louch: We would love for back to school. We're on Interscope now, we've been here. We tried to get it over there with Hov. Hov couldn't make that happen. Jimmy Iovine wasn't budging. Ruff Ryders were still in play and all that. We're going to keep it at Interscope, we don't have any problems with anybody at Interscope whatsoever. When I say that I mean 50, nobody. We're trying to get money now, and people really really want that LOX project. Hopefully back to school or towards the end heading into winter but not all the way winter. I don't have an exact date, but we got 25 solid that you'll say, 'Sheek, this needs to come out right now.'
Game Rebellion: "Searching For Rick Rubin"
In simplest terms, Game Rebellion is just a bunch of black kids making rock music. That's how they introduce themselves on their mixtape Searching For Rick Rubin, which is a collaboration effort with DJ J. Period. But Game Rebellion is much more complex than that. Parts Mos Def, part Sex Pistols, Game Rebellion is nothing short of exactly what the music industry needs: a total and complete middle finger to fitting in, selling out, dumbing down, and whatever the fuck else the music industry makes artists do.
Perhaps the best example of that ethos is the band's version of "Peter Piper" where Netic spits:
J Period's skill behind the boards and turntables are on full display, when matched with Game Rebellion's poignant lyrics they make this mixtape a great addition to any music collection. Game Rebellion's rock out mentality and musicianship make the music come to life, and revitalize songs such as "Public Enemy Number 1," "Going Back To Cali," and "99 Problems."
Along with the Rick Rubin revisits, the CD also boasts a biting freestyle over Eminem's "Toy Soldiers" in which Netic questions gangsterism in Hip Hop. He spits:
"Before we imitated Scillians in all our raps/f**king Moolis, we're just imitating movies/stupid rappers, our favorite gangsters are actors/ Al Pacino's and Little Bobby Deniros/Now James Gandolfini, I'm just trying to be me/ I hate to see my people humiliated on TV/ Damn 3 6 Mafia, you just make it so easy."
Searching For Rick Rubin turned up a bunch of dope remakes, and uncovered the talent that is Game Rebellion. The groups motto is "If You See Something, Say Something." I see you Game Rebellion, and now I'm just letting you know!...again!
Del The Funky Homosapien
I think that as music fans, it becomes easy to take our favorite artists for granted. We come to expect the creativity, and in some ways, fail to recognize the practice and long hours that are necessary for its production. We"re not fully able to realize that a 3 minute song may actually take 3 or more weeks to finish before it hits our ears. I also think it's often the most creative, most explorative, and most elaborate artists that get taken for granted the most.
Del is one such artist. It's hard to argue that he"s not amongst Hip Hop's most creative talents I mean, the dude can rap as three different characters without becoming corny or just a joke. He went from missing his brother and ragging on Mr. Dabalina to raging against the corporate rulers of Deltron Zero and rocking with the Gorillaz. Del's still doing it all, just as he promised when his Hieroglyphics crew told the world that they would be around from '93 Til Infinity.
Infinity is looking a long way off for Del right now. This week saw the release of his latest studio album, The Eleventh Hour. Del caught up with DJ Roosevelt Treasurechest to talk about the new album, his descent into music theory, and how it's all music all the time. Read on to see exactly what it takes for Del's creativity to hit your speakers.
Ruby Hornet: First I want to thank you for taking the time out to do this interview today, so thank you for that. I want to get into the new album, The Eleventh Hour, out now on Def Jux. What does it feel like with this album being your first solo in 7 years, and you produced the album in its entirety?
Del The Funky Homosapien: Honestly, ambivalent. I'm not really tripping. It's good that it's coming out, don't get me wrong, but I'm not overly excited about it. I'm already working on new music now. That's what I do all day everyday, so as far as I'm concerned it's the natural progression of it. It's supposed to be coming out. I'm not overly excited, but of course I'm happy that is it getting a chance to come out.
Ruby Hornet: Can you talk about the title, The Eleventh Hour, and why you decided to name it that?
Del The Funky Homosapien: At first I just thought it was a groovy name. I was like, damn! That's an ill name. I'm gonna have to keep that. As time progressed it started becoming more prophetic. It started really becoming the 11th hour. Hella stuff was happening in my life that was preventing me from putting the album out, or preventing me from being able to finish it until everyone else around me was like, it's the 11th hour. Ok, you're doing this woopty, woop, where is it at? At first it was just a really cool name, then it started to really fit.
Ruby Hornet: I was watching The Eleventh Hour DVD. I got it when it first came out, and I was watching it again in preparation for the interview. There's a scene where you're explaining how you got into production and it seemed it was motivated by your feelings that people could tell that rapping was not that hard to you anymore, and you felt like you had to earn your keep in a sense. Is that what motivated you to get into music theory and production, and if so, how do you feel an understanding of music theory has expanded your career?
Del The Funky Homosapien: Time will tell I guess how music theory has expanded my career so to speak. I'll say it like this man, basically it just makes everything easier. That's what music theory does, it just makes everything easier. Before, I had gotten to a certain level with songwriting and with the production that I basically reached a ceiling where I couldn't go no higher without knowing some more stuff. And I'm the type of person where self-improvement is a big thing for me. It just became that time where I was like, Ok. You're not going to last very much longer, Del, unless you pick up a book about it and actually figure out how you're supposed to do it.’ You understand what I'm saying? I had been winging it for a while, like a lot of us I guess. But I figured at this time in my career the people deserve more. I deserve more. I guess that's what initiated it though, the fact that I had reached a ceiling and I wanted to keep rising. But the music theory helps no matter what music I make. Being able to hear everything the way I need to hear it, knowing what will fit, just from a technical aspect, the tools that I have at my disposal. It just makes the music I'm trying to do easier, even Hip Hop. You may think Hip Hop's not really based on melody anyway, it's more based on rhythm, but even still, it works for that.
Ruby Hornet: I have a friend who said he's been in the studio with you before. He told me an interesting story that one time you were writing to a song and let the beat play for a little while, then you started drawing it and made a visual representation and then turned off the music and wrote to what you drew. Is that right? Do you do stuff like that?
Del The Funky Homosapien: I don't remember that, hahaha. Do you remember what song I was doing?
Ruby Hornet: I don't know the name of the exact song. I'm in Chicago, and he said it was for a song you did with the Molemen.
Del The Funky Homosapien: Damn I don't even remember, man. It must have been a while ago. My main thing that I do when I'm writing something, man, I just sit and I zone off the beat. I try to zone out and let the beat tell me what I need to be rapping about. My usual direction is talking s**t. I usually try to be a comedian with the s**t, I'm just talking s**t, getting s**t off my chest, real braggadocio. But I'll still have a certain type of vibe or direction that I'll take it in based on what the music is telling me to do. If the music is a little bit more laidback, I might be less aggressive. If the beat sounds kind of sneaky, I might try to sound sneaky or something. I just try to match what the beat does. Lyrically, now I try to follow the pattern of what the beat is doing. Whatever the dominant musical pattern is for the beat, I try to follow that somewhat. I don't try to go against it so much. I don't want it to be simpleton with the same exact flow for the whole song, no deviation, but I do try to set up some kind of structure.
Ruby Hornet: When you're writing for this solo album and the music you put out as Del The Funky Homosapien, is there a different mind state or any methods as opposed to when you were writing for the Gorillaz or Deltron 3030 projects? Do you really switch up your mind state, how are they similar or different to each other?
Del The Funky Homosapien: I basically got to get into a character, man. With Del it don't take nothing, cause I'm Del all day everyday. That's probably the favorite thing I like to do, the easiest thing for me to do. Deltron's a little bit more difficult because I got to get into character. I'm not always in that mind state or thinking about those type of things. In Gorillaz, same thing. I had to get into that mind state, and really they gave me little to work with. I had to just make some stuff up. I was asking them, what is this character about? The ghost that lives in Russel's head or whatever? They're like, whatever you come up with, man. I'm like, whatever I come up with? Ok dudes. Remember you said that, whatever I come up with.
Ruby Hornet: When you talk about the braggadocio stuff, and I was listening to the new album, you have a song "Bubble Pop" where you say, "why do you think you're all that when you ain't." It seems like in life at some point or another we all have our bubbles popped. Would you say that's the sooner the better for us?
Del The Funky Homosapien: The sooner the better? Probably. I mean, your parents probably should be popping your bubble real early, before you even leave the house. My mom and my pops were popping my bubble real early. Like, oh naw, you're really going too fast, dude. I was on one growing up, so my parents had to do a lot to try to keep me in line sometimes. So, yeah,, the sooner the better. Especially if you got a little money or something, then you can't tell nobody nothing.
Ruby Hornet: Also you have a track on the new album called "Last Hurrah" Can you talk a little bit about that track, and also kind of what you said in the beginning of the interview, that your fans may be like, oh wow the first Del solo in album in a longtime. To you it's like, this is what I do. I'm making music constantly. On the track "Last Hurrah" that seems to really come through, and it's you saying, I'm not stopping anytime soon. Is that correct? What's the message on that song?
Del The Funky Homosapien: Really the message on that song is just braggadocio with some free form, whatever is on the mind of Del at that moment. I just say it all on that track, as well as KU. My boy KU is rapping on it, he's featured on it. And he actually produced the track. We just did it like we used to do in the old school. He was around when I was doing stuff with Hieroglyphics too, I went to high school with him. We used to do like rap concerts, and little shows around the neighborhood and stuff like that, we used to hang out together, make music together. So we just took it back to that like we used to do. We just go back to back with the mic.
Ruby Hornet: You just talked about going all the way back to Hieroglyphics and such, this album is coming out on Def Jux. How has Def Jux influenced you? Have they made any impact on your style, your approach to music?...Why did you decide to put this out with them?
Del The Funk Homosapien: I'd say Def Jux has left a little impression on my style indirectly because I listen to their stuff. But that was before I signed with them. They didn't step in and say, you have to do this. The album was done when I gave it to them. I just needed an outlet to get it out now, so they allowed me to do that.
Ruby Hornet: Do you think they will allow you to reach more people? Because you've been out for a real long time, you have a couple different fan bases. Some fans know you from My Brother George Is Here, others have come along the way, and now Def Jux may be able to take you to another fan base. Is that part of the reason you went with them?
Del The Funky Homosapien: I went with them because I wanted to get the album out and I just trust El-P. I've known El-P for a long time, years. I trusted my project in his hands. I felt his company could do something with it. I like what he did for himself. When I met him he didn't have the Def Jux imprint yet, and then from there to now it's DEF JUX. Man, I'm really proud of El-P in a lot of ways. I liked his hustle so I said, OK, he could probably make my stuff work over here. It's working. I'm reaching more people. I got a video out, I'm talking to you right now. This whole campaign probably wouldn't be possible without Def Jux.
Ruby Hornet: You also talked earlier about the problems you've had putting the album out, and how it was really getting to the 11th Hour. Also, in the DVD you talked about some of the things you've been going through, you have that video of some girl trying to cut through your door and everything. But when I listen to the album it's got a really fun, up tempo sound. How does it have that type of sound with all the other things that were going on in your life?
Del The Funky Homosapien: Cause music is my escape from all that. Through all that I had my music to keep me where I needed to be. When it comes to my music, it was just like that. And honestly, I made a conscious decision not to make it hella dark or hella sad or nothing. I made music that I would want to perform. I made music that people would want to listen to. I felt if it was going to be too complainy or sad, people were not going to want to listen to it too much. I tried to make it more uplifting. That's my personality as well, though. It's not always good, but I'm always looking for things to be on the up. I'm always trying to make things better. No matter what happens, I'm trying to find a way to make it work, that's what this album is about.
Ruby Hornet: One thing that my dad always sad to me was positive things happen to positive thinkers. Like you just said you got to think things are on the up and up, do you think that has contributed to your longevity and the fact that you've been able to stay creative and making music?
Del The Funky Homosapien: I think my dedication to the music is one thing, cause I'm really dedicated to the music. That's all I do all day everyday. I got more albums here, sitting here now waiting. That's all I do everyday. Also I think my ability to talk to people in a cool way is a big part of why I'm around so long, and I try not to get a swell head over stuff. I try to keep my feet on the ground no matter how large people might think I am I try to keep everything in perspective. I think that's kept me around a lot longer than maybe my musical skill has.
Ruby Hornet: Before you go, can you shed any light on the other projects you have going on? I've been told and heard that a new Deltron album is also in the works, if not done. Is that true?
Del The Funky Homosapien: The album is half done. Automator and Koala already did the musical part, that part is done. I'm just writing bars for the lyrics. I've just been writing bars like it's the bible or something. It's like, Bar 200, Bar 250 I keep writing till I got enough bars to fill up the album. I got an EP that I did with A Plus and AG's production company. They did a whole a whole EP on me call L.E.B. It's a seven song EP. We're working on the Hiero album, that's pretty much done. We're trying to go in and do some more stuff before we just settle, but basically we got an album done. I got a bunch of various projects I've been working on, man. I don't want to reveal too much because I got to figure out a way to get them out. I got three or four other projects just sitting. I've been working on production too, I just did a song with Pslam One the other day.
Ruby Hornet: She's from Chicago as well.
Del The Funky Homosapien: Yeah. She moved out here so I've been linking up with Pslam, doing some stuff with her. We just did a song the other night that turned out real good.
Ruby Hornet: A lot of people move from Chicago move to the Bay, I think there's some common themes out there, or something, but people over here like it over there for sure.
Del The Funky Homosapien: It's slower out here, so I think that may be the appeal. It's less hustle and bustle. It's still gangster like everywhere else, you got gangster stuff going on, but I think in general it's a little more just laid back.
Ruby Hornet: I want to ask you, with all the music you're making and stuff going on, when do you find time to sleep or do anything else?
Del The Funky Homosapien: I don't do nothing else. I damn near make music all day, and write raps. Like literally from sun up to sun down. All my stuff is on my computer so I can be in the bed working on music till I pass out basically, and then when I wake up I just roll back over and get on the computer and start working on stuff again. Literally, that's all I do at this point cause I'm just trying to make my music so good. I want people to want to buy my stuff. People aren't going to buy it no more, so I'm trying to make my music good enough so you feel like you have to buy it.
Del The Funky Homosapien: Eleventh Hour
Artist: Del The Funky Homosapien
Album: The Eleventh Hour
Label: Def Jux
Since 2000's Both Sides of the Brain, Del The Funky Homosapien has been keeping busy and seen more than his share of problems (check out the 11th Hour DVD). Using music as a release, Del stayed religiously on the mic. He morphed into Deltron 3030 with Dan The Automator, and then morphed again when he joined The Gorillaz in the early years of the new millennium. Yesterday, March 11th, Del came back as himself with his first true solo album in 8 years, the appropriately title The Eleventh Hour.
With everything going on in Del's life, and his move to Def Jux, I kind of expected a somewhat dark and futuristic album. However, The Eleventh Hour is a funky LP, filled primarily with braggadocio lyrics that cater to an old school vibe but keep it current. Such a vibe is firmly established with tracks such as "Raw Sewage" and "Footwork" which sound like they could easily land on an album by Del's cousin, Ice Cube, as well as "Bubble Pop" which samples Bob James' "Take Me To Mardi Gras"
Del is Del all day on this LP. There are no big surprises, and no pulled punches. Del's fans should eat this up, as he gives all of himself over 14 tracks. He also proves that he has not lost a step, and the way that his production continues to improve is giving Del a fresh set of legs. Overall, The Eleventh Hour dropped just in time. So if you're having trouble deciding between copping the new Snoop or Fat Joe, switch it up a bit and grab the new Del not a perfect album, but you won't be disappointed.
Hits:
"Slam Dunk"
"Str8 Up & Down"
"I Got You"
"Situations"
Misses:
"Bubble Pop"
"Back In The Chamber"
"I'll Tell You"
- By Alexander Fruchter